


find out your hiding places again

by annemari



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-30 15:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1020267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annemari/pseuds/annemari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard doesn't think he's lost enough blood to start hallucinating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	find out your hiding places again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [solarbaby614](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbaby614/gifts).



> Written for the bandom_meme fanwork gift exchange, for prompt 3: _Gerard & Mikey; Gerard is a superhero and Mikey is a supervillain; Neither know about the other until Gerard gets hurt during one of Mikey's evil schemes._
> 
> Thank you for Ande for looking this over for me! Title from Lorde's "The Love Club".

Gerard doesn't think he's lost enough blood to start hallucinating.

"Shit," Mikey says. "Shit, Gee, what the fuck?"

"How?" Gerard asks. "How do you—how did I—ow, fuck, motherfucker."

"Stop moving," Mikey says. "Okay, now get up, we have to go."

"That's a contradiction," Gerard says, and lets Mikey pull him up. His side is bleeding, and it really hurts like a motherfucker, but his costume absorbed some of the impact and helped keep the worst damage at bay.

"But—" Gerard wheezes, leaning heavily on Mikey. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"I asked you first. Ow."

"Easy," Mikey says. "Shit, we need to get you to the hospital."

"I'm fine," Gerard says automatically. He stumbles, and groans when the wound throbs. Fucking ow. "Okay, never mind. A hospital sounds really good."

There's a blast to their right and Mikey curses and pulls them to cover behind a shelf. "Can't you tell your guys to fucking back off?"

Gerard rests his head against the shelf, panting. "Hey," he says. "We. We didn't start this."

Mikey doesn't reply; he pulls Gerard up again and they keep moving. Gerard follows him blindly; he pushed his mask up when he got hit and the enemy ran up to him. Except the enemy turned out to be _Mikey_. And now Gerard's mask is slipping down again, and getting in his eyes, and all he's counting on is for Mikey to not let go of him.

"Come on, Gee, faster."

"What's the hurry?" Gerard asks. He tries to reach up to push the mask away from his eyes, but his side twinges when he tries to lift his arm. "Wait, shouldn't I still be fighting?"

"What?"

"You know, a superhero never gives up, 'tis but a flesh wound, all that."

They stop suddenly, and Mikey lets go of Gerard's arm. Gerard takes a deep breath and takes his mask off. He thinks it falls to the ground, he's not entirely sure.

He blinks, trying to clear his vision, and sees Mikey rushing back to him. They've somehow made it out of the mall. Gerard tries to turn to see how much damage the building has; shit, he's fairly sure it wasn't supposed to get this out of control.

The movement makes it feel like someone just punched him in the wound on his side, though, and he doubles over, pressing a hand to his stomach to keep from throwing up.

"Hey," Mikey says, clutching at Gerard's shoulder, and pulling him along. "It's okay. Gerard. It's okay. There's a car waiting."

"What?"

"A car," Mikey says. "We're going to the hospital. Remember?"

"But the others—"

"Nope," Mikey says. "Hospital."

They come to a stop at the curb where a car _is_ waiting, the door open. Gerard blinks at it for a moment. He's pretty sure he shouldn't abandon his team, but his head's all blurry and everything keeps hurting, so what good is he to them now, really?

"Let's go." Mikey pushes at his shoulder, and Gerard slips into the car, trying to hold back a groan. He leans back against the seat and presses his hand to his side.

"You guys good?" someone asks from the front seat. The voice sounds vaguely familiar. "Mikey?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Mikey says. "Gee's hurt. Closest hospital, okay?"

"Gee?" the dude asks. "Gerard, like, your brother?"

Gerard frowns.

"Not now, Pete," Mikey says. "Hospital."

"Yeah, okay," Pete says, and the car lurches into movement.

"Wait, Pete?" Gerard asks. "What the fuck, you guys?"

"Later," Mikey says. "Here, take this, and press it against the wound."

Gerard takes the old napkins Mikey dug up from somewhere and frowns at them. It's the best they can do, though, so he gingerly holds them against his side. Mikey's hands join his and it hurts, it does, but Gerard's just glad he doesn't have to do this on his own.

"What the fuck happened?" Pete asks.

"Got ambushed," Mikey says. "No idea how."

"Fuck," Pete says. "Fucking _fuck_."

"Yeah," Mikey says. "I saw Gabe and Bill fighting their way out, though. Seemed to be going well."

Gerard's head is swimming. Gabe and William? And _Mikey_?

"Hold on," Gerard says. "How the fuck are you—you guys are The Phoenix? Mikey?"

Mikey shrugs. "Yeah."

"But how are you—but you're not _evil_."

Mikey frowns. "Of course I'm not evil."

The car swerves and Gerard lets out a whimper.

"Shh," Mikey says, and pets at his hair. Gerard pulls away.

"How didn't I know?" he asks. "Did you know I was The Wiz?"

Mikey shakes his head. "No," he says, voice lower. "But we use the same equipment as you, I'm pretty sure. Perception filter, right? I switched it off when yours glitched. See?"

Mikey takes one hand off Gerard's wound and switches the perception filter on and off, fast flickering movement.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Gerard says.

"Shit, please don't," says Mikey, and presses the gloved hand against Gerard's forehead. "Pete, are we fucking there yet?"

"Almost," Pete says.

"Almost there," Mikey says. "Stay with me, Gerard."

Gerard closes his eyes and breathes.

~

Gerard wakes up to something beeping. He wants to turn over and shut off his alarm, but when he tries his right side protests, and suddenly he's way more awake than he wants to be.

"Shit, Gee, don't move."

Gerard breathes in and out carefully and opens his eyes to look at Mikey.

"What happened?"

"You got hit," Mikey says. "We got you to the hospital. It's not too bad. If you don't try to move."

Gerard sighs. "Fuck."

"Yeah," Mikey says quietly; Gerard has to strain to hear him.

Gerard experimentally touches his side. It doesn't hurt that much like that. Just a little twinge.

"I'm sorry," Mikey says.

Gerard looks up, confused. "Why?"

Mikey seems uncomfortable, sitting next to Gerard's bed, wearing that weird costume—oh. Right. Gerard knew he was forgetting something.

He swallows hard. "It's fine," he says. "I mean, you didn't know I was The Wiz either."

Mikey shakes his head. "That's not—I'm sorry you got hurt, Gee."

"Oh," Gerard says. "Well, I've gotten hurt before."

"What?" Mikey asks, eyes going wide. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Gerard shrugs and fiddles with the blanket. He's tired and he's not sure if it's a good idea to have this conversation right now. "It hasn't been this bad," he says. "I mean, hospital worthy, sometimes, but I've been fine. And I couldn't tell you _how_ I got hurt. I didn't want you to worry. I guess."

"You're so stupid," Mikey says. "You guess?"

Gerard shrugs. "It didn't come up. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd never be on this side of the fight," Mikey says. "And you'd worry, and be all disappointed and tortured about it."

"That makes no sense," Gerard argues.

"You sure?" Mikey asks. "You thought we were 'evil'." He makes air quotes around the word.

Gerard glares. He's not one of the heroes who considers all the villains irredeemably evil—there really aren't many heroes like that these days—but their groups are still unmistakably separate. Evil was just the word he jumped to.

"How did they let you in here, anyway?" Gerard asks. "I mean, with the—" he gestures at Mikey's costume.

Mikey shrugs. "I told them I was your brother. They couldn't really argue with that."

"Yeah," Gerard says, and swallows hard. "But the costume?"

"They think we're in a play," Mikey says.

Gerard laughs, choking on it a little. "Seriously?" he wheezes.

Mikey shrugs. "It's what I told them. I don't know if they bought it, but whatever."

"Right," Gerard says. "Well, they'll cover it up anyway, I guess."

"Oh, yeah, your team knows," Mikey says. "Ray came by. Should have seen that coming." He cracks a smile. "How did you drag him away from his kid?"

"He's fighting for his kid," Gerard says. "And he doesn't come out that often. But he was there before me, anyway."

Mikey nods thoughtfully. "Jon came by too, Pete said. Becky too. They wouldn't let them in, but, yeah."

Gerard smiles. "Okay. They know I'm okay, right?"

"Yeah," Mikey says. "Yeah, they know. They know a lot about you."

Gerard blinks, confused by the non sequitur and the bitter tone in Mikey's voice. "What?"

"I mean, would you even have told me you got hurt? Your friends would have known, but not your brother?"

"What, are you _jealous_?" Gerard asks. "Mikey, what the fuck?"

Mikey glares at him, but then sighs and shakes his head. "Whatever."

"No," Gerard says. "You were hiding this from me, you can't—"

"So were you," Mikey says quietly. "I don't want to fight about this, Gee."

Gerard sighs. "So what should we do about it?"

Mikey shrugs. "Fix it."

"How?" Gerard asks. "Fuck, Mikey, we've never lied to each other like this. I don't get what happened."

Mikey shrugs again and turns away from Gerard, hunching his shoulders. Gerard closes his eyes. He's tired, and he doesn't want to see Mikey look so...sad.

"We just—we've both been busy," Mikey says. "And we haven't had time to talk to each other. And I thought—I thought if you wanted me to know what you were up to you'd come to me. But I thought it was like, a new project or whatever. And since we weren't doing stuff together anymore that—you needed time before you shared it with me."

Gerard opens his eyes; Mikey's still not looking at him, but Gerard wants to see him better. He finds the button that raises the head of the bed; the bed makes a buzzing sound as it moves and Mikey turns to him, but lowers his eyes when he sees that Gerard's fine.

"That's what I thought," Gerard says gently. "That I should let you do your own stuff. And not push, because maybe I'd push you farther away."

Mikey looks up at that, and shakes his head. "You have this whole thing thought out, don't you?"

"Well," Gerard says. "Sort of. I mean, I didn't see the supervillain thing coming at all, but I did talk to my therapist about why I wasn't talking to you. I didn't think your reason was the same. I thought you were mad at me."

"I was a little," Mikey says. "After the band. But not because—not really at _you_ , you know."

"It seems like you were angry enough that you joined the enemy," Gerard says.

Mikey snorts. "Pete and Gabe and the others aren't the enemy. We're fighting for the same thing in the end, you know? We're just going about it a different way."

Gerard narrows his eyes. "You're fighting us."

"Who made the decision to attack today?" Mikey asks. "Because I'm pretty sure you started it."

Gerard frowns, thinking back. They'd gotten a tip that the The Phoenix was gonna cause trouble at the mall, that's why they'd moved out in the first place and started evacuating everyone.

"We were heading out to fight on the edge of town," Mikey says. "To help the group there. We were only passing through the mall, getting some supplies."

"Dressed in your costumes?" Gerard asks.

Mikey shrugs. "It was faster like that. But we weren't gonna hurt anyone."

Gerard chews on his lip. No matter what, he still trusts Mikey. They both lost touch with each other, but there's no point in lying.

"Okay," Gerard says. "But you're still the Stallion."

"Yeah," Mikey says slowly. "And how often have you fought with him? I haven't put any of your guys in the hospital. I just help my friends."

Gerard remembers when the Stallion showed up on the scene, only a week or so after Gerard himself joined The Magic. Mikey's right, he mostly stayed out of trouble.

"Fine," Gerard says. "So you haven't hurt anyone. But—"

"Not until now," Mikey says, sounding small.

Gerard pauses. Mikey can be just as fucking ridiculous as him. "Was that _your_ explosion?"

"No," Mikey says. "I don't do explosions."

"I'm pretty fucking sure it was a beauty shop accidentally blowing up," Gerard says. "So it wasn't your fault."

Mikey shrugs. "I guess," he says. "Felt like it. Gee, when I saw it was you—"

Gerard shakes his head and reaches out for Mikey; Mikey catches his hand and squeezes.

"I'm fine," Gerard says. "You took care of me, and I'm okay, and things will be _better_ now. Promise."

There's a knock on the door before Mikey can answer, and Pete sticks his head in.

"Mikey, we gotta run, the cops are coming."

"Wait, but you said Ray and Jon were here," Gerard says. "Did—"

"Nah, I don't think it was them," Pete says. "But the cops probably wanna question you, and we shouldn't be anywhere near here. Gabe's waiting for us at the rendezvous point.

"Are we still heading out to fight?" Mikey asks, getting up.

"No, it's taken care of," Pete says. "Come on, we gotta go."

Mikey turns back to the bed. "Gee..."

Gerard swallows hard. "Go. I'll see you soon, right? You'll come by?"

"Of course," Mikey says. "Real soon." He bends down and kisses Gerard's forehead. "Be safe."

"You too," Gerard says, and watches Mikey and Pete rush out of the room.

~

"You know, you should have someone take a look at your costume," Gerard says.

"Why?" Mikey asks. "What's wrong with it?"

Gerard shrugs. "It's a bit loose at parts."

Mikey blinks at him. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

Gerard throws a cookie at him, Mikey deflects instead of catching and it falls to the ground. Gerard's still not sure how either of them got into the superhero/villain business with their skills. It'd seem like karate and boxing should make their reflexes better, and Gerard knows it's helped him a lot, but it's still a miracle they get through most fights unharmed.

"I just mean," Gerard says, "that it'd be better if it'd be tighter. It wouldn't slow you down."

"And it would look better on the pictures," Mikey says flatly. "I know what you're thinking."

Gerard crosses his arms. "Yeah. Well. You should have Colleen look at it. I can give her a call myself."

Mikey rolls his eyes. "Fine, whatever."

Gerard beams. "Awesome. I'll do it today, and if she has time she probably wants you to come in this week, so if you can—"

Mikey holds up a hand. "I already said I'd do it."

"Do what?" Lindsey asks, walking into the kitchen.

"Mikey's gonna have his costume fixed up," Gerard tells her happily, and ignores Mikey's eye-rolling.

She smiles at him and ruffles his hair. "Nice," she says. "Can't be fighting crime with a shitty costume."

"It's not shitty," Mikey says, frowning.

"It just needs touching up," Gerard assures him.

"Of course," Lindsey says. "It seems the bad guy's costumes should be better than ours, though, and so far you're not really bringing it."

"That's because you have Gerard," Mikey smiles. "You remember what most of the people in The Magic looked like before you guys joined it, right?"

Gerard shudders. "It was terrible. I mean, you'd think with a name like that they'd do something fun."

"And ours—" Mikey shrugs. "Pete has a vision."

Gerard tilts his head. "I guess I can't argue with that."

Mikey snorts. "Artists."

"Have you guys heard of any activity recently?" Lindsey asks him.

"All quiet on our side," Mikey says.

Gerard takes in a deep breath. Neither of their teams have had any scuffles for a week, and Gerard feels a bit unsure about relaxing, but he's glad for it. It gives him a chance to do something else, and spend more time with his family.

"Have you been writing anything?" Mikey asks.

Gerard takes a bite of his cookie and nods. "Every day."

"Cool," Mikey says. "Me too. Can I hear?"

Gerard grins. "Of course." He finishes the cookie and gets up. "Come on. Linds?"

"Go," Lindsey says. "I've already heard it all, and I really want some coffee now."

"Oh, we made some," Mikey says. "But we drank it all."

Lindsey shakes her head fondly. "Go on, then. And remember to pick Bee up later, I have some work."

"Cool," Mikey says. "I miss Bee."

Gerard smiles. "Come on, I'll play you the newest stuff."

Mikey smiles back and follows him, throwing a hand over Gerard's shoulders.


End file.
